Thunderbolt of the Confederacy v2 Traditional Cache

This cache replaces the archived cache GCC57B placed by BassetSlave on 01/17/2003.

An non-activated FTF micro geocoin was placed in the cache as a FTF prize.

Brigadier General John Hunt Morgan was known as the "Thunderbolt of the Confederacy".  He was born in Huntsville, Alabama, but his family moved to Kentucky (his Mother's home state) when he was six.  He enlisted in the 1st Kentucky Cavalry at the beginning of the Mexican War.
In the late 1850's he organized the Lexington Rifles, a pro-southern militia.  In 1861, though Kentucky remained neutral; Morgan like many Kentuckians was forced to choose sides. He took the Lexington Rifles to Bowling Green to join General Buckner.

By early 1862, Morgan had earned a reputation both in the North and South for his daring raids and was even being compared to the famous Revolutionary War guerrilla, Francis Marion. During December 1862 he was busy conducting his infamous Christmas Raid. This excursion would divert 7,300 troops from Rosecrans advancing army and would close down the L&N railroad for five weeks and cost the Union several hundred thousand dollars in destroyed supplies and munitions designated for Union troops in the south. The events below outlines this raid:

• Confederate General John Hunt Morgan and 4,000 cavalry marched from Alexander, Tennessee to Upton, in Hardin County Kentucky, to destroy the L&N Railroad.
• Morgan's cavalry burned the Bridges at Bacon Creek (Nolin) below Upton.
• The Rebels made camp a few miles south of Upton on Christmas night.
• Captain Tom Quick made Union soldier's walking along the tracks at Upton surrender by shooting over their heads. Upton surrenders without a Confederate shot being fired.
• Lighting Ellsworth tapped into telegraph lines at Upton and sent fake messages to Union General Boyle in Louisville about Morgan's troop size and movements.
• COL. Basil Duke took Nolin garrison, burned the wooden brides and military stores. They also made "Morgan Neckties" of the rails.
• Morgan's troops marched from Nolin and made camp a few miles from Elizabethtown, which was protected by 600 Union soldiers.
• Union COL. H.S. Smith marched his 600 soldiers across the front of the hill, out of sight and had the head of the column form to the rear and marched them in front of the hill again.
• CPT. Tom Quick solved the mystery.
• Union COL. Smith demanded Morgan's surrender.
• Morgan gave COL. Smith thirty minutes to move the women and children to safety before shelling the town. Over 100 cannonballs struck Elizabethtown in 20 minutes.
• White flag was waved and the firing ceased.
• Morgan's raiders took Union soldiers rifles, and overcoats. They used confederate money to buy trousers and leather.
• Many Union soldiers were killed at the Eagle House Hotel and Foerg Building.
• Morgan spent the night at the Brown-Pusey house where Elizabethtown ladies met Morgan and left with a souvenir button from his coat.
• The next morning Morgan's men battled 750 Union soldiers at Fort Sands and Fort Boyle five miles to the north of Elizabethtown at Muldraugh Hill. They were guarding two 500 feet long and 100 foot tall wooden railroad bridges. After the cannon fire ceased, the Union soldiers surrendered, Morgan's men set the bridges on fire. Their mission to halt food and ammunition deliveries by burning railway bridges successfully shut down the Union supply line for five weeks.>
• Morgan's men moved on to Bardstown on their way back to Tennessee.

Descriptions of Waypoints:

• Gun Emplacement is slightly southeast of the cache location. Four cannon were in the battery. One cannon now sits at that location to mark it.
• Historical Markers sit slightly south of the cemetery entrance with parking.
• Cannonball in building wall is the location of a building where a canon ball from this raid is still visible in the corner. (NE corner of town square.)

Please remember this is a cemetery so treat this area and other visitors with respect.